GM buys startup Strobe, a leap towards automation

General Motors Co said, it would buy Strobe Inc, which uses LIDAR technology to help self-driving cars identify objects at a distance, to speed up development of autonomous vehicles and slash sensor costs.

“Our mission is to remove the driver from the vehicle and ultimately deploy these vehicles at massive scale,” says Cruise founder and CEO Kyle Vogt. “Lidar sensors have been one of the bottlenecks.”

Lidar is a surveying method that uses light to measure the distance to a target. It’s similar to radar, which uses radio waves instead of light. Lidar units are capable of creating high-resolution maps, which self-driving vehicles can use to assess their surroundings in detail. Many automakers believe lidar is a key component of the tech required to bring autonomous vehicles to the road.

The deal gives G.M in-house capabilities for the development of lidar sensors that creates high definition images for the vehicle that is operated by computers thus giving the company gearing towards the development of the autonomous vehicle.